"Upgrade" from GR-Research A/V-1s (1 Viewer)

[David*RT]

Yousaf,
So how are your new speakers coming along? Spill the beans........

 

[Yousaf]

Heh I'm either too busy with my investment banking internship (8-6 or 7, they expect me to work nearly the same hours as them for the experience I guess) or listening to the speakers that I haven't been able to writing up that detailed review :b

I'll copy and paste a preliminary review I did on the AVS Forums:



I really love the speakers I don't want to sound like a fanboy but honestly I can't really say that they do much wrong. Since my only other high-end speaker experience is with the GR-Research A/V-1s, I'll compare the T-22s to those.

While I liked the A/V-1s, the feeling that the sound was slightly muted and perhaps not as detailed or clear as it should be began to grow on me. The T-22s have certainly remedied this. They pick up more low-level detail than the A/V-1s but at the same time they don't seem to be overly analytical to the point that you can't enjoy anything less than a perfect recording. I guess here is where I give the mandatory "I'm hearing things I've never heard before!" comment One of my favorite recordings for both musical enjoyment as well as speaker demos is Dave Matthews Band - Crash (off the Crash album). The intro has a couple guitars and a lot of delicate percussion work, and the T-22s just nail this. They make the sound more realistic and are just more lively than the A/V-1s, even at lower levels.

Guitar and drum work is much more enjoyable on these speakers too. I realize this isn't a fair comparison since the T-22s have a lot more woofer than the A/V-1s but they are just more dynamic. The attack on guitars just feels right and drums are punchier as well. With the better detail on the T-22s the decay of the drums give more of a feeling of air and atmosphere. Once again, it just feels more right. Some people might feel that 6.5" woofers are inherently sloppier than 5.25" drivers but these T-22s give up nothing to the A/V-1s (in terms of overall detail and musicality). Vocals seem about even between the speakers but the T-22s pick up the breaths in between lyrics better.

The bass of course is better on the T-22s and goes low enough for most music. I threw in some Eminem for the heck of it and while the bass won't liquify your insides it has plenty of punch to keep most people happy. I still plan on mating the speakers with a sub, though. The bass retains the speakers' overall fast, detailed characted. When watching movies, I am not afraid to turn the volume up whereas with the A/V-1s I always watched the woofers as much as the movie during more bass heavy scenes as I was afraid they would bottom. The T-22s can be cranked without noticable deterioration in sound quality...my ears gave out before the speakers

The highs have more sparkle than the A/V-1s but they certainly aren't gimmicky or overdone. Once again, it feels about right. The A/V-1s seemed to have less high frequency energy and slightly glossed over music to perhaps make it more pleasing and make bad recordings less noticable, but I'm happier with the T-22s.

There is one area that I feel that the T-22s are bested by the A/V-1s, and that is imaging. Now, there's a good chance I am sitting too close to the speakers and have them mounted too high, but the A/V-1s had better pinpoint placement of instruments. Given that the dynamics and overall tone of the T-22s are more pleasing to me, I still don't feel as though I'm losing much.

Well that's my quick review of the T-22s. Let me know if you'd like to know anything else. Also, keep in mind I have the T-22CFs (which have the $100 carbon fiber woofer upgrade). The normal T-22s are supposed to have pretty much the same sonic character as mine but they just don't go as low.